


Wow, I Probably Should've Stayed Inside My House.

by Brookelacook



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Humor, M/M, carry on, eren has glasses, eren is the manager of the bookstore, fanboy!eren, inspired by the judge, rainbow rowell, tøp - Freeform, you don't have to have read carry on to get this fic don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:30:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7889995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brookelacook/pseuds/Brookelacook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi decided to not check the weather. He figured it'd been nothing but cold as hell outside lately so it wouldn’t make a difference. </p><p>Of course, today it did.</p><p>aka Levi gets caught in a snow storm and has to find shelter by any means possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wow, I Probably Should've Stayed Inside My House.

“Wow, I probably should’ve stayed inside my house.”

 

Levi decided to not check the weather. He figured it'd been nothing but cold as hell outside lately so it wouldn’t make a difference. 

Of course, today it did.

On the weekends Levi usually went into town. Not really to do anything, in particular, just to walk or get a bite to eat. Yes, it might've been freezing outside but it didn't bother him in the slightest. 

He stepped outside his small apartment and was immediately aware of the harsh weather. He flipped the hood on his jacket up in an attempt to keep warm and closed the front door behind him. Levi walked down the stairs and stepped onto the sidewalk, kicking a small rock as he did so.

“There's usually more people out here…” He observed. It didn't take a genius to notice that he was the only one outside for as far as he could see. 

Trying not to let the thought bother him too much, Levi shrugged it off and continued to walk into the distant nothing. 

 

He lived pretty close to the shopping area, so thankfully the walk never took too long. 

He started to get more concerned about the lack of people around him when he got to the middle of the shopping center. In the middle of the area, there was an old fountain that had been turned off for the winter, which was surrounded by dry dirt and stones. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Levi saw the light of a tv coming from an old radio store. He put his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked over to the small shop. He squinted and looked at the tv inside the store. The lady on the screen had large rectangular glasses and was way too happy about announcing the weather for Levi’s taste. 

“If you’re not inside already, get inside.” She began to announce. “The snowstorm is coming and it’s gonna be a bad one!” She said with a serious face, although her expression quickly changed into a cheeky smile. “Oh, I just love snow, so romantic.”

Levi couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the women. To him, snow was the opposite of romantic. It was cold, wet, and not his exactly favorite thing in the world. Levi didn’t mind the cold, but the snow was a completely different story. 

He turned away from the tv and started to walk to find a good place to eat. 

“Wait.”

His eyes widened and his feet stopped moving without hesitation.

“I’m outside, and there’s a snowstorm coming in a few minutes.” He thought to himself. “Fuck.” 

Levi took his hands out of his pockets and dropped them onto his face. He knew he couldn't make it back to his house at this point even if he tried. He moved his hands down to his thighs and shouted a long stream of curses. 

“I just wanted a damn sandwich and I got a snowstorm, a fucking snowstorm.”

Just as Levi closed his mouth, he felt a snowflake land on his face. 

“Why today out of all days did I not check the weather…”

There were a lot of thoughts rushing through his head, but none of them seemed reasonable for the current situation. He was stuck.

Feeling very frustrated, Levi kicked an empty diet coke can as hard as he could, not caring where it landed. 

When he heard a noise that sounded like glass breaking not even seconds later, he slowly looked up from the ground.

“As if my day couldn’t get any worse...” He grumbled. 

He saw that the can landed by the store next to the radio store he was at previously. The said store had a very old feel to it, and the rug in front of the door looked like a ravaged cat attacked it. 

Luckily, the contact from the can didn’t break any glass that he could see, so he immediately gave a sigh of relief. 

Looking at the store again, he peered in and saw someone looking at him. He couldn’t really tell what the person looked like considering that the store was strangely dark, only being lit by a lamp in the corner. 

“What kind of store is this… A Halloween shop?” Levi wondered, slightly creeped out. He looked up at the sign and it read “As The Plot Thickens”.

As the plot thickens…?

Levi peered into the store once more, and the person in the back was still staring holes into him. 

“Great, now this stranger probably thinks I’m gonna rob them.” He said with a tired sigh. 

He noticed that inside the shop there were shelves filled with books and suddenly the name of the shop made a lot more sense to him. 

“What kind of person names a book shop such a cheesy name?” He thought, chuckling to himself. Levi usually wasn’t much of a laugher, so that said a lot about how ridiculous he thought the name was. 

A breeze blew, interrupting his laughing fest, and he shivered. Levi put his hands back in his pockets and walked up to the door of the shop, stepping onto the grungy welcome mat he’d noticed before. 

He tried to pull open the door, but he quickly came to the conclusion that it was locked. The sign on the door read “Sorry, but we’re closed” so he wasn’t surprised. Apparently, everyone and their mothers had heard about the storm, and Levi wished he had too. 

By each passing minute, the snow started to come down heavier, and Levi grew more impatient 

“I’m not about to get hypothermia out here, so this scary-looking brat better let me inside.” He decided and knocked on the glass door a few times. 

The glass was dirty and looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in years. He was about to start cleaning this door from the bottom up if the book-nerd didn’t let him in. 

Eventually, Levi was able to make out that the person sitting inside the store was a male, but he couldn't see the details of his face. 

The knocking got gradually louder, and eventually the person looked up from his book to see what was making all the noise. 

Levi hoped that this was his lucky day and that this fellow happened to be a good person who liked helping freezing strangers. He somehow doubted that was the case.

His doubts were confirmed when the stranger looked back down at his book and completely disregarded him. 

Levi angrily stuck up his middle finger and hit his head on the door defeatedly. He could’ve sworn he saw the male jump up when his head made contact with the glass of the door, and he gave a smug grin. 

For the next five minutes, Levi continued to pester the assumed-to-be manager of the bookstore by finding different ways to bang into the door. 

He usually wasn’t this annoying and persistent but he really had no other choice. It was either annoying the living shit out of this guy and get invited inside or freeze to death out in the snow. 

There was an obvious choice. 

Finally, a long while of harassing, the manager started to walk over to the door. Levi felt like his non-existent prayers were answered. 

The male was standing right in front of the door, almost teasingly, and appeared to make no effort to open the door. 

Now that he was closer, Levi got a better look at the guy who was going to be the death of him. Literally. 

“He looks a little young to be a manager…” He observed. 

Levi first noticed that the male had gray eyes and was a sizable amount taller than himself. His hair was short, black, and was parted in the middle. He appeared to be wearing a white collared shirt and tan khakis. His eyes were enormous and were covered by a pair of also very large glasses.

Levi was gaining all of this information through the fairly tainted glass, so it was hard to tell if he was accurate. 

He pressed his face up against the door and gave a pleading look. This was usually very much out of character for him, but he was getting desperate. 

The male inside laughed, crossed his arms, and then gave a taunting smirk.

“Please,” Levi mouthed, hoping that the male on the other side of the glass could understand him. 

Levi hated to beg like this. Like he was some unfed dog that wanted dinner scraps. But he just wanted to go inside.

The manager sure was taking his sweet time deciding whether or whether not to let him inside. He pressed a finger to his lips and furrowed his brows, looking as if he was making the biggest decision of his life.

Levi could also tell he was holding in laughter, and that just made him all the angrier. 

He then opened his mouth to say something but Levi couldn’t understand a word of it.

“WHAT?” Levi yelled.

The male tried to speak again, but it wasn’t any clearer than it had been the first time.

“STILL CAN’T HEAR YOU.” 

Now Levi was being intentionally loud, knowing that he’d be heard. 

He watched as the male visibly sighed and then reached for the door. 

“Holy shit it actually worked.” Levi said out loud as the door was being opened. 

“The sign says we’re closed if you can read.” 

Levi noticed that his eyes that seemed to be just gray before actually had a hint of teal to them. Huh. 

“I can read but I can also tell that it’s fucking freezing outside.” He said matter-of-factly and leaned up against the door frame. 

The male’s eyebrows furrowed ever more and Levi wondered how it was even possible to look that grumpy. He was supposed to be the grumpy one. 

It didn’t look like the manager had any intention of letting him inside, and he was blocking the door so Levi couldn’t easily slip by him. 

Levi decided that he’d come too far to turn back now, so he decided on a plan. Small talk. 

“Why’re you here while everyone else is home?” Levi questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

“I didn’t check the weather… But that’s none of your business.”

Levi had a feeling the shorter male wasn’t telling the entire truth, but he was more focused on something else. He wanted to get inside the book shop if his life depended on it. And it did. 

“So what’s your name?” Levi asked, inwardly cringing. He didn’t really care about the brat’s name, but he figured chatting the kid up was worth a shot. 

“Once again, none of your business.” He said, and then sighed. He seemed to do that a lot. 

“But my names Eren. Eren Yeager.” 

“Oh, that’s a nice name!” Levi tried to say with a smile, but his expression immediately fell to its normal state. 

“Dammit, I can’t pretend to care about some brat I don’t even know. I just want some shelter from this damn snow.” He admitted, hoping Eren would appreciate his honesty.

You know what they say? Honesty is the best policy. 

It became apparent to Levi that it wasn’t the case when he saw Eren’s face. It was hard to read his expression, but then again, Levi wasn’t very good at doing that in the first place. 

To him, It looked like Eren was contemplating whether or not to let him in once again. Levi knew he didn’t make the friendliest first impression, but he hoped that Eren would take into account his dire situation. 

“Just come in.” Eren finally grumbled, opening the door wider and stepping slightly to the side.

Levi was flooded with relief. He wasn’t going to die today after all.

He finally stepped one foot into the store but was promptly stopped by Eren.

He stood over Levi. He was already taller than Levi, so it was easy for him to loom over the shorter male. “You can do whatever you want but don’t you dare break anything, set anything on fire, or bother me,” Eren said, trying to uphold a stern voice. 

Levi grunted in response. He’d been in a rush to get inside ever since it started to snow, so he didn’t appreciate the holdup. 

Eren finally moved completely out of the way and walked into the store, not even holding the door for Levi. He walked over to where he was sitting previously and picked up his book. 

“Thanks for holding the door, brat.” He called after Eren. Levi stepped into the store and was hit by the drastic temperature difference. It had to be at least thirty degrees warmer inside the shop.

Or Levi was just freezing outside. 

He flexed his rough, calloused hands trying to get the blood flowing again. Levi looked up at Eren and noticed there was a wooden stool across from the desk that he was sitting at.

He watched as Eren picked up a book with a blue, and yellow cover. He couldn’t make out the pictures on the front, but he quickly looked away when Eren’s head lifted from the book.

Levi had just about no interest in talking to the book-brat now that he got what he wanted, but the small stool seemed to be the only other place to sit in the store. 

“What kind of bookstore only has one place to sit?” He thought to himself. The store was fairly small and it was tightly packed with shelves filled with books and displays. 

Levi eventually grew tired of standing and joined Eren on the wooden stool. The stool was dingy just like about everything else in the store, but Levi was too tired and cold to care. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The screen was cracked and Levi was surprised that the entire screen hadn’t fallen off by now. He’d dropped it multiple times while walking or cleaning. 

Levi was clumsy despite his rather graceful appearance. His hair was raven black and it was styled in an undercut. He also had dull, blue eyes that always seemed to be looking down on people. Not literally of course, because he was rather short. 

He pressed the power button on his phone, and instantly the low battery symbol popped up. 

Levi groaned and felt the urge to throw his already broken phone on the floor. 

Now he had no way of distracting himself. 

He took a deep breath and chose to put his phone back into his pocket instead of breaking it for good. 

“Now, what the hell am I supposed to do. Read?” He asked himself.

Levi never really liked to read, he just found it to be a waste of time. He was definitely intelligent and would read if he assigned to, but he just chose to do other things in his free time. 

A few minutes of silence passed, and Levi finally chose to speak up out of boredom. 

“What book are you reading?” He asked, resting his chin in his palm. 

Eren slowly lifted his eyes up to meet Levi’s. He once again noticed how much brighter and wider they were compared to his own.

Levi saw him take a deep breath before starting to speak. “It’s called Carry On by Rainbow Rowell and it’s basically the best book in the history of books. Okay maybe not-But it’s a greatly written book by one of my favorite authors about Simon snow, who’s a wizard, who has a rivalry with his roommate who he thinks is a vampire and I’m not gonna spoil but Simon’s not crazy.” Eren said, not taking a pause between any of his words. 

Levi was not expecting that. He was expecting to hear the title of the book, maybe even the author, but he was not expecting the kid to get all fanboy on him. Not that he was complaining.

It was almost nice to hear the joy in Eren’s voice when he talked about the book and the way his eyes lit up even brighter than they usually were. 

He still didn’t like the kid. No, he didn’t. 

“It’s a romance between a wizard and a vampire. What could get any better than that?” Eren laughed, closing the book. “I swear I’ve read this at least three times and it just came out the other week.” 

“A romance.? Between the male lead and his rival the so-called vampire? That means...” Levi was trying to register his thoughts when it all suddenly clicked. The book had a gay romance in it and Eren liked it. 

Levi gave a half smile and sat up straight on the stool. “Well, it sounds like someone really likes the book.” He said with a smirk, leaning over the table just a little bit. 

Eren flushed, looking down at the table. “Uh… Yea. I do.” He said almost like he was carefully choosing his words. He didn’t say anything for a minute and face grew less red. “Sorry for ranting, I just never really get a chance to talk about it.” 

Levi’s eyes widened. Eren had just shared something he really liked with him, and he was apologizing?

“It’s alright.” He said looking at Eren. “Honestly, I wish I liked a book that much.” 

“You can borrow it if you’d like? It’s a really good book and I think you’re gonna be stuck here for a long time.” 

Levi knew he was probably going to be stuck in the shop for a while, and he hoped that Eren wouldn’t kick him out when it got too late. He didn’t exactly want to read the book but it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. His phone was dead and twiddling his thumbs didn’t seem too entertaining. 

“Sure, why not.” He took the book from Eren and turned it over to read the back of it first. 

“Doesn’t seem too bad…”

After he finished scanning over the synopsis he flipped the book back over and opened it to the first page. 

Since his phone was dead, he had no concept of time. He’d gotten about 17 pages in before he was starting to grow tired. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the book, he just didn’t really like to read. 

“I can’t concentrate.” Levi finally announced, closing the book. He made sure to remember what page he left off on of course. “How about you read to me instead, you’re the book-brat after all” 

Eren looked up from the new book he was reading and adjusted his glasses. It took him a moment to realize what Levi had asked of him, but of course, he was happy to do so. 

“If you promise never to call me ‘book-brat’ again I think I might be able to read to you.” He said, taking back his book and opening it to the page that Levi left off on. 

Now that the book was being read aloud, Levi could picture what was going on a lot more vividly. He could see Simon and Baz and the very noticeable tension between them. He could also hear how smooth and relaxing Eren’s voice was. It reminded him of being read to when he was in grade-school.

Except he wasn’t in grade-school and the person reading to him was a lot more attractive than any teacher he’d ever had. 

Eren continued reading until it started to grow dark outside. The snow was still pouring down even more heavy than before, and it started to show up on the roads. That’s how Levi could tell that this wasn’t some small storm. He couldn’t tell how many inches there were, but he was sure he’d most definitely get frostbite if he tried to walk home in it. 

Eren took a pause in his reading when he noticed that Levi was looking outside. 

“The snow’s coming down hard isn’t it.” He observed out loud. “If you want, you can come up to my apartment. I live right above the shop.”

Levi turned back to Eren and made eye contact with him. He wasn’t really sure what other options there were, but he also didn’t know how he felt about going up to Eren’s apartment after they had just met.

“It wouldn’t be weird… And I don’t have any other place to go…” He tried to convince himself that it’d be alright and completely normal, but he was having a hard time. 

When he realized that Eren was waiting for an answer he finally spoke. 

“I think it’s the only choice I have.” 

Levi couldn’t believe that Eren wasn’t even going to let him inside the store at first, and now he was inviting him up to his apartment. 

“Thanks.” 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

Levi followed Eren into his apartment and closed the pale-gray door behind him. He scanned the room and saw that although the place wasn’t big, it was very homely and neatly decorated. It almost looked like a girl lived there…

Did Eren have a girlfriend? He hadn’t thought about that once the entire night. 

Levi was gay himself, but he wasn’t about to ask Eren if he was too. 

He remembered the way Eren talked about the fictional characters in the book, and how they were, in fact, both male. 

While he was trying to determine if Eren was straight or not, he realized he was being quite rude. That wasn’t necessarily something Levi was bad at doing.

He took off his winter boots and his jacket near the front door and noticed his pants were still slightly damp from the snow. He made sure not to sit on the couch in order to not get it wet. 

“My sister’s usually here, but I guess she wanted to be with her boyfriend for the big storm,” Eren said, also taking off his shoes. “Those two are almost always together, it’s crazy.”

“How old’s your sister?”

“She’s the same age as me actually, 20.” 

Levi nodded. He was five years older than Eren. It wasn’t that much of an age gap, but it was definitely there, and it was already making him feel like an old man. Levi also suddenly felt a lot shorter…

He wasn’t sure if his sister was the only one that lived with him, but since Eren made no mention of parents, he just assumed they’d be home alone tonight. 

Alone in the house… Just the two of them…

Levi suddenly became a lot more aware of his situation.

He followed Eren into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. 

Levi noticed that the kitchen was also very organized. Everything seemed to have a place where it was neatly put away. He liked that. 

“Do you want anything to eat or drink? Although it’s far past dinner time...” Eren offered, grabbing a glass for himself out of a cabinet. 

“I’ll just have some water.” Levi answered.

Eren took out another glass and started filling them up with tap water. He then placed one down in front of Levi and sat in the chair in front of him.

Levi picked up the glass and took a long drink of water. He hadn’t had anything to drink for the past few hours, and he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he was given water. 

(Eren=water)

When he placed the glass back down on the table he noticed Eren was looking at him. 

“Are you really the manager of that bookstore?” Levi asked, deciding that was a good conversation starter. Better than sitting in silence that is. 

“Yea, it used to be my mom’s before she passed.” Eren said, looking down at the table. 

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine it happened years ago.”

Levi felt a pang of guilt for bringing up a sensitive subject for Eren, and the room was silent. 

“Are you really illiterate?” Eren asked seconds later with a giggle. 

Levi rolled his eyes. He was glad that Eren seemed to be okay. 

“I can read and write fine thank you very much.” 

Eren gave another laugh and this time Levi joined along with him. It had been a long time since he laughed like that. 

Levi continued talking to Eren until it became apparent to him how tired he was.

He looked over at the microwave to check on the time, and he saw it was almost eleven. 

Eren turned around to check as well and Levi saw his eyes widen in surprise when he saw how late it was. 

“Damn, it’s late.” Eren said, turning back around in his chair. “You can sleep on the couch if you want. It’s not like I can kick you out in this weather.” 

Although Levi would’ve preferred to sleep in his own bed, the couch was just about his only option. He could tell that it was clean just like everything else in the house, so it wouldn’t be too bad. 

He wanted to thank Eren for his generosity, but he honestly didn’t know where to start. If it weren’t for him, Levi would be out freezing on the streets trying to walk back to his apartment. 

Levi hated feeling like he owed something to anyone, so he was already trying to think of something he could do in return for Eren. 

“Can I borrow a charger before you go upstairs? My phone is kind of dead.” Levi asked, feeling slightly guilty to ask more of Eren. 

“Sure thing.” Eren said, walking over to the counter. He lifted up a cord attached to the wall and swung it around a bit. “You can plug it in right here.” 

Levi walked over and proceeded to plug his phone into the charger. His phone made a buzzing noise, indicating that it was charging, and he saw Eren jump slightly.

“Cute…” He couldn't help but think. 

“Well I’ll see you in the morning Levi, sleep well.” Eren said, walking over to the staircase. 

“You too book-brat.”

As Eren was walking up the stairs Levi could hear him call something in reply.

“I told you not to call me that!” 

 

The next morning Levi awoke to find himself on a couch that was obviously not his. He sat up and took a moment to regain the memories of the previous night. 

The clock on the microwave read 7:03, which was around the time he usually got up for work. It’d become a habit for him to wake up then, no matter how tired he was. 

Levi stood up and arranged the pillows on the couch just like they were before he moved them. 

He scanned the living room and kitchen area, and there was no Eren to be seen. Levi assumed that he was still sleeping, or that he was somewhere upstairs.

He gave a long yawn and began walking over to the counter to get his cell phone. Levi unplugged his phone from the charger and turned it on. Thankfully, it was fully charged. 

Levi was about to walk away before he noticed that on the other side of the counter sat ‘Carry On’.

“I guess I didn’t notice Eren brought it up last night…” 

An idea popped into Levi’s head. 

Trying to be as quiet as he could, he opened a drawer and looked for some sort of paper. This could’ve been seen as rude or intrusive, but Levi was too focused on the task at hand to care. 

He always carried a pen in his pocket, so once he found a few sheets of scrap paper he was ready to put his plan into action. 

Eren awoke and turned to his side to check the time. 

“I sure slept in today…” 

It was 9:15, much later than he usually got up. 

He rolled out of bed, put on his glasses, and adjusted his hair in the bathroom mirror. Not that he wanted to look good for the person awaiting him downstairs. No, of course not. 

He walked down the stairs and over to where Levi was sleeping.

It was obvious that he wasn’t sleeping there anymore, and the pillows were arranged perfectly like no one was sleeping there in the first place. 

Eren looked around the rest of the apartment and knew that Levi had already left. 

He decided to check where Levi’s phone was, just in case he had forgotten it. He walked over and looked at the countertop. 

Eren wasn’t surprised that the phone was nowhere to be found, but he was surprised that his book was missing too. 

“It was right here…”

He was sure he’d brought the book up from the store last night...

“Huh?”

Eren raised an eyebrow when he saw a small piece of ripped paper sitting in place of the book.

He slowly picked it up and adjusted his glasses to see it.

It read: “Call me if you want your book back.” 

Under that was a single phone number.

The handwriting was small and neat, although it looked slightly rushed. 

Immediately Eren knew who wrote it.

He sighed. “Two can play at this game.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if I'm going to continue writing this or not, it depends on the feedback. Let me know if you want more!
> 
> Also, if you see any grammatical errors that's because I don't have an editor...


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